glimpses of water, road, and buildings slivered between the skyscrapers. He didn’t expect her to be so tough. Like, taking no prisoners. All or nothing. No more chances. No pleading or cajoling. Do this or that. Done. He never met a person who was so clear-cut so quickly. He usually managed to play his stupid, apathetic games and arouse the anger of others, but they still tried to work around him, or with him, or over him. Most just pleaded with him to care about the improvement of his own lot in life. Imagine all the teachers who advised him he could do better. He had so much potential, why waste it? The fear tactics, the cajoling, and the entreaties. Some pussyfooted around him. Others tried the more heavy-handed attempts like standing on his jugular vein, metaphorically speaking, of course.
But damn, Jody never missed a beat. Starting with his physical appearance, which, come on, she obviously noticed that. He wasn’t blind to her reaction. But in her office, something flipped and whatever she saw initially had zero affect on her then. She truly went back to typing and concentrating on her work while he was standing right there. He could see her giant screen and sure as shit, she was deliberately ignoring him.
His esteem toward her rose a notch.
He wasn’t kidding about his reaction to her not being because he found a woman in her role. Never mind, a young woman. He just did that. He couldn’t seem to stop himself. All authority figures were game to him. He didn’t set out to disobey or challenge them, but he couldn’t stop himself from testing them. He tried to throw off any people with “good intentions” because he couldn’t believe people truly had good intentions. Not from his experience. He wasn’t a criminal, just apathetic. He pushed people’s buttons as long and as far as he could. But he stopped short of doing totally blatant actions of outright destruction.
But damn. Jody didn’t stand for any of it.
Fine. He consented to cooperate. He wanted to meet Rob Williams. If nothing else, it would make a great-assed story when he went back to bartending in the little, podunk town of Chaliss, Indiana. He’d be back there soon enough. And he could pull this experience out of his damn pocket.
Truth be told, Ross never traveled often. Never across the country. Never to a big city like this. He stared up and something new and strange moved through him… Admiration? Was he feeling just a little bit impressed?
Huh. Fine. He decided to take a look around this city he knew so little of. It rained often. It threatened to rain right now. Drops spilled from the leaden sky that climbed all over the building tops. Oddly, no one hauled out umbrellas. Their hoods came up, and people walked a little faster. But hardly anyone carried a damn umbrella.
There were coffee shops. Lots of them. A salty smell near Elliot Bay. There were people lounging along the street, all homeless. Some had their belongings set up all around them, a woman was walking in circles, flailing her arms, and talking to herself. He wondered, What happened? Drugs? Mental illness? Having no answer, the mystery tugged at his conscious mind. But like most everyone else, he turned away and kept walking.
A man cold as stone was passed out in the middle of the sidewalk. Was it drugs or alcohol or illness? Ross had no idea. But he lay right there as all the pedestrians avoided his body, veering to the right or left as they passed by.
Humanity was strange. Weird. Scared of anything unlike themselves. Their own biases and limited experiences create the fear. Some would sneer with disdain and might even spit on the man. Others might call the cops to remove him so they didn’t have to deal with someone who didn’t fit in with the classy condos and sorely obstructed the lovely bay views. Some people would approach him to assist him, seeing a fellow human in need of help. Some would try to encourage him to find his own way, and face the consequences, while others would excuse him and exclaim it was not his fault, and he should receive anything he needs no matter the cost.
Ross had no idea what was right. Living in a small, rural town north of Indianapolis, he didn’t have much experience to judge from. Seattle was like another planet to his senses. There was so much to